Yeah, okay, that works (Captain America 43 Spoilers)

And no, I don't actually have my copy of Cap in my hands, won't until the end of the month, but I am physiologically incapable of not looking at spoilers on the internet.

That bit when Bucky refers to Black Widow as his best friend, as in "ought to be in bed with my best friend"?

Totally saved the whole Bucky/Widow relationship for me.

Of course they see it as friends with benefits. It makes perfect sense, for both characters.

Yet another Black Widow cool moment

From Captain America 36:



Here Natasha, clearly a bit irked, reminds the new Cap that yes-she-needs-resuing-but-is-still-damn-cool Sharon Carter is more than just the old Cap's girlfriend.

Captain America #36 [Spoilers]

Just so you know, this comic could just as easily have been called "Wow, the Black Widow is Totally Awesome!" :)

Anyway, this book is still the best thing I get, month after month. It's the first thing I read. (In fairness I must confess that the second thing is Countdown, so this has less to do with guaranteed quality than with a certain "can't wait to see what the hell happened!" thing. But still.) It's the first thing the husband reads. The kids...well, you know about the kids. Eight-year-old reads it, thirteen-year-old doesn't.

So. Great fight scene. Great new-Cap-getting-in-over-his-head scene. Great Black-Widow-to-the-rescue scene. Great this-is-not-your-father-s-Captain-America scene. Great Bucky-tries-to-inspire-the-masses scene (where the shield proves useful when the masses start throwing things!). The Red Skull laughs villainously, Tony Stark continues to dig himself into a deeper hole with the government, and Sharon Carter finally manages to break away from Faustus (we hope). It's the threat to her baby that does it, which I find realistic--she hasn't really had a lot of interest in preserving her own life since she shot Steve, but the baby? That's different.

I will say that, from reading the internet, there was one thing I thought I might not care for--the kiss between Black Widow and Bucky/Cap when she left. I couldn't imagine a way it could have been done that wouldn't have had me rolling my eyes a bit. Well, it turned out to be a pretty cool moment. They're talking. She tells him that she won't be seeing much of him now that the "new Captain America" has gone public (and, presumably, now that she's more confident of his ability to pull it off--and, possibly, now that she's observed him long enough that Stark can trust him with the shield?). He's clearly very disappointed. She thinks for a moment, realizing what her absence is going to do to his morale. She says "Do you remember it all? Our time together, when I was young?" They talk a bit about it and about why Bucky/Cap is taking on this challenge, and she kisses him good-bye ("Until we fight together again...A l ittle something to let you know I haven't forgotten, either.") and leaves. It works--he seems considerably more cheerful.

So, why that was good instead of lame? (Which such a scene could so, so easily have been?) The Widow maintains her...well, Black Widow-ness, for lack of an existing term. She really does need to leave the book because, while Cap/Bucky may be a better fighter than she is, she is clearly far more competent in other ways. (Well, she's a lot older, has had a lot more experience, it makes sense that she would be.) If she's around, she'll continue to run to his rescue, which won't do much for developing him as a new Cap (or even a better hero). But, mainly, it's not a romantic scene. It's a reasoned response on Natasha's part, and works regardless of her actual feelings for him. I have no idea whether she has any interest in him beyond friendship at this point (hell, I have no idea whether she's got a relationship going in any other title these days), but it was at the very least a kind gesture, and made perfect sense for the character in that situation. I'm impressed.

Black Widow idea

Okay, when it comes to my comics, I am not a matchmaker. Some folks are. Some folks look at a team book and can just tell who would make an interesting couple--they have their favorite pairings, are pleased when the writers agree and occasionally annoyed when they don't. I don't tend to think about that, generally speaking, although I certainly have my own opinions on which comic couples have worked and which have not.

However.

I would love to see the Black Widow take another chance with Hawkeye/Ronin/Clint Barton.

They do have a fairly significant history (which I've discussed some of here). I'm not actually sure how that whole thing where Natasha was a Soviet agent when she and Clint met works now--the age thing isn't a problem for her, but it could be for him (not sure how old he's supposed to be), but that wouldn't be an issue for me personally so I won't go into it right now. Natasha was always way cooler than most of the Silver Age women, anyway, so the relationship dynamic itself probably wouldn't need a whole lot of revising. Also, there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. They've both had other relationships--she with Daredevil and probably others, he having been married.

And, just like when they first got together, they're on opposite sides. He's a New Avenger, she's a Mighty Avenger. Sure, there was far more difference between the Cold War Soviet and American points of view than there is between the pro-reg and anti-reg positions, but still, that forbidden aspect? Dramatic gold!

I can't imagine that it would be a long-term romance, but I think it would be a lot of fun to see happen.

(And it could! The same guy is writing both of their books--how much easier could it be?)

Anticipation

There's a preview of the upcoming Captain America here:

http://comicnewsi.com/article.php?catid=231&itemid=11267

that makes me think it's going to be a long several weeks until I get my comics. I am so looking forward to seeing Black Widow come to the rescue!

When Natasha wore fishnets

Because it's a busy weekend, here's an image of Black Widow getting her first Widow suit from the Russians:

Lives of the Lovelorn: Hawkeye and the Black Widow

Both Clint and Natasha were introduced in the pages of Iron Man (well, Tales of Suspense in those days, which he shared with Captain America), both as villainous (or semi-villainous in the case of Hawkeye) characters.

Tony Stark always was more concerned about the Commies than a lot of Marvel's heroes--he began his Iron Man career in Viet Nam and, since at that time he was primarily a manufacturer of weapons, he had to deal with industrial espionage on top of the usual villainry. That's where the Black Widow came in, a Soviet spy sent to seduce Stark and learn his secrets. She had first gone in alone, and had been less than successful (although not about the seducation, which with Tony was pretty much a given in those days). So when she met Hawkeye and saw in him a potential ally to be used against Stark, she applied her techniques in his direction. Poor guy never had a chance.



Unfortunately for Natasha, she didn't do any better partnered with Hawkeye than she had alone--he took a shot at Iron Man, and his arrow bounced off of the armor and hit her.



Now, Natasha was a communist spy at this point in her career, but Hawkeye was not. In fact, he had taken on a costumed identity in order to fight evil (granted that he was first motivated by jealousy of Iron Man, but still his heart was always in the right place). So she had to convince him that she, as well, was on the side of good. Not that this was difficult, convincing Clint of what he wanted to think anyway...



...but on some level he really did realize what was going on.



At this point their love affair was interrupted, when Natasha--unsuccessful in completing her mission--was taken back to her home base by force.



But as she leaves the scene, the seeds of her eventual redemption are planted--she really does love Hawkeye, after all.



When next we see Natasha, she is in a costume given her by her superiors, who have given her an ultimatum: complete your mission or else.



And we're shown just what "or else" means (and given yet another reason to find her sympathetic).



When she asks him to help her against Iron Man once again, he's still reluctant, but--as usual--it doesn't take much for her to convince him.



However, it also doesn't take much for him to give up on the subsequent battle with Iron Man. He says it's all because he loves her so much, but I'm pretty sure that he didn't mind being given a way out of the fight.



However, Hawkeye's failure to complete his part of the mission apparently caused a break with the Widow, because the next time we see her is in the pages of The Avengers--again as a villainess but with some doubt in her heart.



And new-Avenger Clint also allows his emotions to get the better of him:



But in the end, all was well...



...at least for a while. Oh, sure, there were trust issues:



And, even as a "good guy" Natasha wasn't necessarily going to be Avengers material in that era:



And then there was her career as an agent (double-agent, even!) of SHIELD:



Even after the whole traitor storyline was over, there were issues. Such as the revelation of Natasha's husband:



Eventually, Natasha tried to quit the whole thing.



But that didn't work out so well for her, either.



And eventually she returned to spy work.



(Note that Hawkeye, on the whole, was far cooler about Natasha's SHIELD career than Captain America was about Sharon's.)



But Natasha appeared less and less often in the pages of The Avengers. Eventually the lovers were once again torn apart, and eventually it really would be the end.



The next time we see Natasha, all the years of deception--necessary or not--have come to a head:




I was actually pretty impressed, reading that last comic--published in the mid-1970s, which really takes it out of the Silver Age--that the emotional consequences of typical Silver Age romantic nonsense were being dealt with somewhat realistically--or at all!

I don't think she and Clint ever did discuss the particulars of their relationship (they didn't at that point, in any case), but there is, at least, a sense that there are consequences to actions--to the fact that as a villain she had preyed on the emotions of a needy man, and as a heroine she had treated him inconsistently at best due to her work, and that regardless of motive she had done him some damage and recognized this.

I haven't read the Black Widow mini yet, so I'm not sure how much is different about her current backstory, but--take away the Silver Age soft-focus lens--and here you've got a character who has not only really changed over time, she has become consciously self-aware. I'm not saying that any of that is likely to have stuck, or that she wouldn't make some of the same mistakes again--it's comics, after all, and even in real life habit is hard to break--but that's pretty cool.

A few more thoughts about the Black Widow

As I've said elsewhere, I've always liked the Black Widow. She's not really one of my favorite characters, and I don't follow her adventures closely, and I'm sure there are huge parts of her story that I just don't know, but I'm generally happy to see her show up in any comic I read, as I was in Captain America 27. So I'm wondering just why it is that I'd find it so annoying to have her become a love interest in that book--since otherwise I'm pleased with her presence there.

I think part of this has to do with how I was introduced to her, way back when.

The Black Widow was one of the stronger women of the Silver Age (not that that's saying a great deal). When she first appeared she was a villain, a Soviet spy attempting to seduce Tony Stark (no great challenge, that one) in order to gain information on his company.

She eventually teamed up with Hawkeye during his brief semi-villainous phase, at first using him for her own purposes but eventually falling genuinely in love with him, becoming more heroic, and finally defecting to the United States. Unfortunately, once she'd made those changes, become one of the "good guys," it seemed like she lost a little of her competence and autonomy.

And that's when I "met" her--in the pages of the Avengers. Natasha was still one of the more interesting women around, but she was also "Hawkeye's girlfriend," and you rarely saw her in action without him. There was plenty of angst when she started working for SHIELD; Hawkeye was not pleased about her absences or the peril she was often in (although I think he was less of a dick about it than Captain America was about Sharon Carter's dangerous missions in those days). Eventually they broke things off.

In later years, Natasha became involved with Daredevil; I don't really know much about this part of her life, but since the relationship took place in his book, she would have been part of his supporting cast by definition (i.e. "Daredevil's girlfriend"). You can't fault the writer--if s/he is writing a comic called Daredevil, then clearly Daredevil is going to be the book's focus.

I did read The Champions for a while, that somewhat odd team-up of the Black Widow, Hercules, Angel, Iceman, and a few others. Natasha was team leader, which was not bad for 1975. I'm told that she later hooked up with Hercules, although I'd stopped reading before that point. Presumably she escaped the "Hercules' girlfriend" thing in this case.

So while I think there's a lot of good stuff to be mined based on her prior relationship (such as it was) with the Winter Soldier, I think it's probably better stuff when it's "old friend" or "ex-lover" rather than a rekindlement. (Hm. Not a word, is that?) Since her own book is Mighty Avengers I think it's more likely that significant changes in her life would take place there, but all that time seeing Natasha associated primarily with someone else in their own title (and therefore often being portrayed as less awesome than she should be) has made me wary. I don't think that she shouldn't have a love life, but I'd be much happier if it happened in her own book where I can be more confident that she'll maintain the awesomeness.

More Black Widow on the way!

I just saw the October Marvel solicitations at Newsarama, and here's what it says about Captain America 31:

THE WINTER SOLDIER HELD PRISONER BY THE RED SKULL! While Sharon and the Falcon race to his rescue, about to cross paths with the Mighty Avenger that Tony Stark has sent hunting our rogue hero – THE BLACK WIDOW!

Will the Red Skull kill both Cap and Bucky? It's anyone's guess, as the second arc of the epic "DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA" storyline opens with a bang!

I'm looking forward to seeing the Black Widow in this book again. I don't think I'd want her as a regular, and particularly wouldn't want to see her as a love interest of any sort, but I think she does make an interesting opponent for the Winter Soldier. She probably knows him a lot better than he knows her, given the vast amount of life experience she has had since they knew each other, and I think inevitably he is going to underestimate or misjudge her because of this.

I always did like the Black Widow, back when I was a kid. I totally missed out on her Daredevil period (don't think I've ever purchased a Daredevil book) but I liked it that even in the Silver Age she was almost always portrayed as competent. I'm not as big a fan these days, but I'm still pleased to see her done well.